Not So Different

Chapter 13 K-I-S-S-I-N-G

I woke up to my fifth morning at the Sentinel safe house at 6:02 a.m.  Sunlight had just begun peeking through my  shades when a white haired demon decided to come in and jump on my bed to wake up.  Reaching behind my head, I grabbed a fluffy white pillow and hurled it with all of my might at the scrawny boy.  He yelped in surprise and fell to the ground, landing hard on his backside.  The boy stood up, grumbling, and I couldn't help but chuckle at his sour face.

"What was that for?"  Cobweb asked annoyed.

"For jumping on my bed and waking me up at this unholy time in the morning," I replied simply then asked, "How the did you get in my room?  I locked the door last night after I came up from training."  The Sentinels offered combat lessons for those who wished to defend those protected under their care or for those who simply wasn't to learn to defend themselves.  I had taken my second training course the previous night and had been dead tired.  I had locked the door specifically for the reason to keep people from waking me up. 

Cobweb shrugged.  "I picked the lock.  All of the room locks are basic two tumbler locks.  Easy pickings."

"And why exactly did you pick the lock to my door and wake me up?"  I asked him suspiciously.  Cobweb, I had come to learn, was exceedingly lazy and usually wasn't up early.  I hadn't seen him at breakfast the first four mornings I had been there. 

"Jet plane sent me in to wake you up.  She said she wanted to show you something and to meet her on the lawn," Cobweb replied.

I stared at him.  "Why did she send you and why did you agree?"  Jet and Cobweb didn't exactly get along and I ccouldn't imagine her asking him a favor or him agreeing to do her a favor.

Cobewb's face became contorted with a scowl.  "I saw her on the lawn so I annoyed her and when she finally got aggravated, which didn't take long, she bet me and if she won the bet I would have to leave her alone and come get you.  If I won she had to run naked into the pond in the fields a mile from here.  I lost."

I found myself grateful for Jet's sake that she hadn't lost.  "What was the bet about?"

Cobweb's scowl intensified and he shook his head, saying nothing, then walked out of the room.  Well okay then. 

Tossing back the covers, I walked over to the small stack of clean clothes the Sentinels had provided me.  I pulled on a plain black tee and a pair of dark sweats.  I went into the conjoining bathroom and splashed some water over my face to wake me up and ran a hand through my hair to get some of the bed head out.  Then I swung open my now unlocked door and walked down the halls of the safe house that I had memorized over my stay there.  When I reached the front door I waved at Peter, a twenty-five year old mutant with gills and fins on his arms, who actually seemed to enjoy morning guard duty. 

"Hello Chris," He said with a serene smile, "Is it you Ms. Rowan is waiting out there on the lawn for?"

"I suppose so," I replied.  "I guess the sensors are already off, so it's okay for me to go out?"  The motion sensors on the lawn were only activated at night so inhabitants of the safe house were free to roam the lawn in the day, so long as they did not cross the fence without notifying someone in charge.  It was not that you were banned from leaving, anyone could leave the safe house at anytime they so chose, it's just so if you left the appropriate sensor and security measures were turned off temporarily so you didn't activate them.

Peter nodded.  "Yes, they are off so you are free to travel the the ground as you please," Peter said in his formal and polite vernacular that he used all of the time, not just on guard duty.